


The Beginning and End of Everything

by AmatusVanitas



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Also expect lots of speculation, Brief mentions of blood and character death, F/M, Tagging Teen for safety and Underage for one particular prompt in the future, but nothing major, one hundred theme challenge, one hundred word drabble
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-26
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2018-03-09 03:48:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 64
Words: 6,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3235181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmatusVanitas/pseuds/AmatusVanitas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I love her, and that is the beginning and end of everything." - F. Scott Fitzgerald</p>
<p>A collection of one hundred drabbles, one hundred words each, surrounding Riku and Xion using Rebel-Reality's one hundred theme challenge.  Suggestions always welcome.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Heart

**Author's Note:**

> This marks my third and (probably) final go at a hundred-theme challenge; the other two are still up on my dA and FanFic.Net accounts. There might be references to the other challenges throughout, but I doubt I'll upload the others unless I feel they're truly wanted or needed - besides, a little haziness on details is probably expected when you're limited to one hundred words per chapter. The prompts don't follow in chronological order, but they are all technically connected in one big headcanon unless I specify that they're AU. Enjoy!

"To think," Xion says, arms wrapped around her knees, "all that time we had hearts."

"It wasn't really that surprising to me." The boy (man? savior? Master?) beside her takes a bite out of the ice cream she bought him, flinching at the salt on his tongue, not looking her way. "Not after I saw how much you cared for people you didn't even know."

And really, what is she supposed to say when the boy she never got to know says that? She rests her head on her knees, hiding the blush and smile that rises at his words.


	2. Embarrassing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set during Days on the first night of the forty days Riku and Xion are on the run together.

"I..."

Riku pauses in setting up their meager campfire, glances up at Xion with his unnerving, blindfolded gaze. "What?"

"Thanks for... saving me, I guess? For making sure I was all right when I passed out."

If she's not mistaken, the corner of his mouth quirks upward, but he lowers his face before she gets a good look. "You're welcome."

Slowly, cautiously folding her legs under her, Xion seats herself across the campfire from him. "Yeah... It was kind of embarrassing, to be honest."

"I bet."

That's all the more they say for the first night, but it's a start.


	3. Rough

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember the CPR scene in The Emperor's New Groove? Yeah, Riku and Xion get sent over the waterfall, too.

Something is pinching her nose shut.

Xion gasps, not even fully awake, flinging her hands in front of her—immediately her knuckles make contact with something soft above her.

Above her?

"Ri-riku?" She blinks; as the world solidifies, Riku leans out of her vision, rubbing his cheek.

"Well, that was rough. Never riding over a waterfall again."

"Wh-were you trying to kiss me?!" She pushes herself away from him—from underneath him, no less—before he even answers.

"You weren't breathing," he snaps. "I was doing CPR..."

"Oh..."

Xion still doesn't look at him for the remainder of the night.


	4. Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set sometime after Xion awakens in KHIII—I really hope they don't let this kind of plot bunny with Vexen and Xion slip by...

"Xion, it's Vexen. He treats ordinary people as lab rats. Imagine how he'll be around you."

"He's the only one with the answers I need." She purses her lips; Riku ignores the movement.

"We can find them somewhere else. Don't go." As if that were the final word, he turns on his heel to leave.

"You know, you didn't used to make decisions for me."

Riku sucks in a breath, and all noise in the room is swallowed by the tension between them.

"I'm sorry," he says at last, still not facing her. "I just—it's hard seeing you hurt."


	5. Sunrise

The sunlight filling the tent causes Riku's eyes to twitch and Xion to giggle.

Riku sleeps on, though, even as she slips out of the covers. It won't be long until someone starts making the rounds and bursts into the tent to wake him up, and Xion doesn't dare be found here—not yet. Instead, she ducks out of Riku's tiny shelter and darts across the campsite to the tent she was supposed to be sharing with Naminé, not even pausing to admire the sunrise that woke her up.

Someday, they won't have to sneak around. But not yet.


	6. Night

The first night after he sends Xion back, Riku doesn't notice when he doesn't sleep.

He notices the second night but shrugs it off; DiZ is irritated as it is, and no more than Riku trusts him, he assumes worrying about Naminé caused it.

The third day, though, there's no reason he shouldn't be asleep; the inn room is stiflingly silent, which should be fine.

But there is no one left to listen for, no rhythmic breathing to set his mind at ease, and he never knew he needed that last reassurance to sleep at night until it was gone.


	7. Burn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "When I caught myself, I had to stop myself from saying something that I should have never thought of you." —Paramore
> 
> Yes, yes, I know, the RikuShionRoku triangle is probably really overdone and cliche by now, but eh.

Roxas has only ever kissed her once, but he was still too late.

It was supposed to be beautiful and romantic and perfect, but instead it felt so very wrong—at least, it did for Xion. She flushed with embarrassment and confusion afterward, feeling sick inside, and she knows it's supposed to be Roxas; he's her best friend, he knows her better than anyone else in the world...

So why did she think of Riku instead?

And Roxas kept smiling at her, oblivious to the burn of her guilt and longing for someone she should never have thought of.


	8. Scream

"There at the end, when I—when I fought Roxas—"

"You don't have to explain," Riku says.

Xion shakes her head. She thought she was good with words—maybe not like Lea, the master of lies and excuses, but good enough to express herself—but now, when it's important, she struggles to say anything, let alone what she _wants_ him to know.

"I wanted to scream for you," she says at last. "I kept hoping you'd find us before it was too late—you were the only one who could help me."

His hand closes around her wrist in apology.


	9. Black

Darkness swirls around Riku's fingers, black tendrils dancing in the spaces between and flecks of dark colors glinting enticingly in the dim light of the room. One silver eyebrow arches upward as Riku reaches toward Xion.

She lifts her eyebrows in response, stretching out her hand and intertwining their fingers through the Darkness; it dissipates at her touch, and she smiles.

"You probably shouldn't do that, you know."

"I lived in the World that Never Was for a year and in the dark of Sora's heart for another," she says. "A few specks of black from you don't scare me."


	10. Bliss

"What is it, Riku?"

Uneasiness curls in Xion's stomach—Riku hasn't looked at her properly all day, yet now he's cornered her behind a marble pillar where the others can't immediately see them. He ignores her question, clenching one hand into a fist as he stares.

"You don't look well," she murmurs—"crazy" is a better—

He rushes her, cups her cheeks in his hands, and then his lips are pressed to hers and moving...

It takes Xion a moment to find her way out of the bliss kissing Riku puts her in so she can kiss him back.


	11. Tension

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set the day after the last prompt, "Bliss."

Sora knows the instant Xion sits as far away from Riku as possible that something is very wrong.

He glances at Riku out of the corner of his eye; Riku, however, ducks his gaze, putting down his silverware and crossing his arms.

Sora gulps. "Uh, Xion...?"

"What."

"I just, uh..." Xion picks up her fork and picks at the breakfast she brought with her. "You seem a little off."

"I'm fine. Didn't sleep well."

With a loud groan as the chair scrapes along the floor, Riku pushes himself up and stalks out of the inn. Xion stabs at her eggs.


	12. Shadows

"It's like..." Riku sighs. "There's an entire month of my life missing—I was working on something for Ansem the Wise, but all I can remember are shadows—like there was something or someone there."

Kairi frowns—then grabs the sketchbook she keeps nearby, pulling out the pencil wedged in the spiral. "It's not just you," she says; her Nobody hastily outlines a figure in a dark robe through her hand. "Naminé knows who it is—she looks like this."

Riku's hand shakes slightly when she gives him the drawing. "That's—that's it. Naminé, how did you...?"

"She's waking up."


	13. The End

Riku backs away from the scene playing out below him and into Naminé's room before he even knows he's opened a Corridor.

By the time he closes the portal, Riku's already forgetting the details of what he saw.

"It's done, isn't it?"

Riku bows his head, but it's more of a confirmation than Naminé needs.

It is, indeed, done at last—Xion gave up Sora's memories and saved Roxas, if only for a day or so.

It is the end to a short, sad story, but if he can't be relieved that it's over, then he is at least grateful.


	14. Star

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set (in theory) just before the end of KHIII.

She wakes up in the middle of the night with Riku's arms still around her, the waves lapping at their feet. Xion turns her head to look past the fringe of his hair fluttering in her eyes; the stars above continue to wink and dance over them all, as if blissfully unaware of the impending danger.

"Sure are a lot of worlds out there, Riku," she murmurs, but for the first time in a long while, with his warmth and Light next to her, she doesn't tremble.

"There'll be a lot of worlds after tomorrow, too," Riku says quietly.


	15. Encounter

He keeps dreaming of the encounter with the girl in black inside Sora's heart.

Riku hasn't figured out yet why it sticks out—he doesn't know her anymore than the boy who definitely wasn't Roxas, but the boy isn't haunting his dreams. He hadn't felt so... _at ease_ around Not-Roxas, hadn't been comfortable enough to quip at him the way he had the girl.

The blank, sad stare from either boy hadn't been as painful to see as hers, either.

In fact, if Riku hadn't known any better, he would have said he'd met the girl in black before.


	16. Breath

Xion is so _cold_ when he rests a hand on her shoulder, and he stops, hesitating. Behind him, though, Roxas' eyes bore into his head, and he can't back out now.

Riku leans forward until his forehead is pressed against hers, swallowing against the burning lump in his throat when Xion doesn't react slightly at his touch. He can't even feel her breathing—he stops himself before he goes down that path. Maleficent didn't win, she _couldn't..._

"I'm sorry," he murmurs before finally kissing her.

At the sound of Xion's first real breath in a long while, his heart leaps.


	17. Unknown

"I'm not afraid of you, your past, my future, or anything else Xehanort can throw at us," Xion says, flopping on Riku's bed and scooting closer until her thigh is pressed against his, "and I won't let you be, either."

Riku simply stares dumbly at her; Xion stares back, breathing heavily. "Xion," he musters at last, "I..."

"Am I allowed to kiss you?"

Riku laughs once before catching himself. "You have to ask?"

"Well, I wouldn't, but this dating thing is still new and unknown to me—"

She stops talking as soon as he closes the distance between their lips.


	18. Blood

Riku's breathing, but red stains her fingers when she lifts her hands from his shirt.

In a flash of white, she's thrown backward, crying out as her body strikes the floor.

"Do you see yet, Fourteen?" The click of boots against the floor echoes through the chamber. "Your very existence causes suffering. You have allowed others to protect you for too long."

Young Xehanort's hand caresses her chin, curving around to her neck to lift her head off the ground. "Look at the blood you've forced us to spill now. You should have joined us and spared him this pain."


	19. Sun

It's pathetic, really.

Forty days on the run with him, and Xion had never once seen Riku actually smile. The corners of his mouth might have twitched upward when she tried to be clever or did something too much like Sora, but that's all.

Maybe that's why she's blinded when she finally sees it.

They're up on the clock tower, just the two of them for the first time in years, and he's laughing and grinning at some throwaway line she'd said about Demyx...

As silly as it sounds, it really is like seeing the sun for the first time.


	20. Explain

"What was it like? When you..."

"When I died?"

"You didn't really..." Already Riku wishes he hadn't asked her to explain.

Xion stares off into the horizon of Twilight Town for a long while, silent and unmoving; just when Riku thinks that she's not going to answer and decides to make some excuse for them to leave, however, she says, "It didn't hurt, if that's what you wanted to know."

"I didn't want—" He stops himself before he starts shouting. "I just don't want you to feel like you have to keep it all to yourself. It doesn't work."


	21. Fear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set in KHIII-speculation land where the New Organization literally marks their next choices for the Thirteenth Vessel. Mind games and angst ensue.

The world is too calm for all her fear; it should be thunder and lightning instead of clear skies. "They marked me, it's not just my name—"

"What're you talking about?" Riku's hands trap her arms to her sides like a straitjacket.

"Look—" She shoves his hands away, pulls aside the collar of her shirt. The Potions did their work, but the Recusant's Sigil is still cut into her skin.

Fingers trembling, he traces the cross over her heart. "Xion..."

Her hands clutch at his vest, pulling him in and crushing her mouth to his.

This is her last chance.


	22. California

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Lea gets drunk despite the restrictions of Disney.

"Showin' some skin, Xi?"

Riku averts his eyes as Xion wraps one arm around her waist and covers her face with the other, obscuring the pattern of her bikini top. "Lea, please, just shut up..."

(He nearly misses Xion's muttered response trying to forget that _the bottom of her bikini has the same the pattern..._ )

"Why do I gotta shuddup?" Lea throws up a hand in all his drunken glory. "'M not the only one who thinks you're smokin'. Shoulda seen Riku when we found ya..."

Riku avoids Xion and her friend for the rest of their excursion in California.


	23. Moon

"What're you doing?"

"Tucking you in," Riku says, poking a corner of her blanket under her shoulder. "Got you an extra blanket."

"Sure you won't need it?"

"Don't worry about me."

Xion blinks, moonlight reflecting off hazy, sleepy eyes. "Be a lot easier if you'd take care of yourself."

"It's too late for you to be lecturing me." He leans down, forehead resting lightly on hers, the fringe of his hair blocking the flickering light of the campfire behind him.

"Or too early."

The kiss goodnight Xion gives him will forever stay a secret between them and the moon.


	24. Sunset

"I thought watching the sunset was a you, Roxas, and Axel thing."

"Not quite." Xion tugs on Riku's hand as she pulls him up the clock tower staircase. "It's a best friend thing, and Roxas and Lea are my best friends."

"All I did was give you a 'winner' stick."

"And call me your best friend. You give me a winner stick, I show you my favorite place in the world."

"I've already seen it."

She stops to glare at him, but when he laughs at her pout, her face warms up and her stomach starts twisting into knots.


	25. Soldier

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand I missed the opportunity for some kind of FFVII reference/alternate universe. Ah, well, fluff with a hint of angst works well, too. Technically a follow-up to 21. "Fear" with the reference to a scar.

"Kinda need that back."

She glances up at him, smirking briefly at his open vest, before clutching Riku's Mark of Mastery symbol tighter and letting her gaze fall. "Master, huh?"

"Yeah—what's up?"

"It's just..." She lets Riku's hand guide her chin up, attempting a smile. "With everything going on—" unconsciously her hand covers her heart and the scar— "I can't help but wonder if we're going to be soldiers for the rest of our lives."

The bed shifts as Riku adds his weight. "I promise you," he says, pressing his forehead to hers, "it will get better than this."


	26. Redemption

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written pre-KHIII announcement, so at the time I still assumed Riku would be directly involved in bringing back the people in Sora's Heart instead of tackling the Realm of Darkness with Mickey. As such, I implied that this conversation actually took place in Sora's Heart as Riku brought Xion back, but I think this prompt works even without that setting - the only way I'd ever really see Riku/Xion working is with a discussion like this happening at some point, y'know?

"It was my fault."

The intensity that radiates from Riku is pouring from his eyes, honesty and regret and even anger; lightly she sets a hand on the back of his. "Where'd you get that?"

"I should have gone with you—I could have held Axel off—"

"And Roxas wouldn't have even known." Her fingers curl around his palm. "It worked out for the best."

"That doesn't change the fact that I'm sorry." Riku forces his hand out from under hers and stands—and to her surprise, turns around and holds his hand out to her. "But I'm setting things right."


	27. Longing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, look, no UST at all in a drabble about longing. I'm not sure if this is an opportunity missed or wisely avoided...

"You miss them."

Riku sits beside her, ignoring her surprise and staring out over the crevices below the castle they've relocated to. Even in the remains of Hollow Bastion, the sunset is beautiful, if more weary and longing than Twilight Town, and Riku seems to engross himself in it.

"My friends?" Xion rests her head on her drawn-up knees. "Yeah."

Riku nods to himself. "I'd tell you it gets easier," he says at last, "but it doesn't."

It's the most Riku's ever said to her about his friends, really, but it's more than she ever thought she'd be trusted with.


	28. Strive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my God cheese. Those with allergies and intolerances, beware.

Xion's eyes meet his from across the room, and like always, she smiles a little to herself—to him—and for the thousandth time this week, Riku finds himself catching his breath.

It's infuriating—and a little humiliating, even if she never knows it—how much power Xion's smile has over him now, how a small show of her gratitude can steal his breath away without her ever being the wiser to his reaction.

He's always striving for the upper hand in the battle for his breath anymore—but somehow, this is a battle he's content to fight forever.


	29. Warmth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And bam, the prompt that made me tag for "underage." Preeeetty tame, but still, it qualifies. I think.

His hand inches up her thigh, igniting sparks under her skin, and she shudders from the warmth in her stomach and tightens her grip on his shoulders.

"We don't have to do this, if you don't want to."

Xion shakes her head, kissing him and pushing her forehead against his; their breath mingles between them, and with every breath she breathes in some part of Riku. "I want to," she murmurs. "I want _you_."

Riku cracks a small smile—all he can muster with the immensity of what they're doing looming over them. "I love you."

"I love you, too."


	30. Solitude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tangential Riku/Xion friendship for the wiiin...

Traveling alone should not feel this lonely—especially not with the Darkness he wears whispering constantly in his heart.

Maybe it's the pang of regret at watching Sora leave from his hiding place on the palace roof that leaves Riku sullen and immobile until night sets in and the chill sets into his bones. It's been a few months since he's really talked to someone without impending doom looming over them; maybe it's just the loneliness without Mickey or—

But there never was an "or"... was there?

Maybe this forced solitude is finally starting to wear him down.


	31. Space

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obligatory Space Core homage here: "SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE."
> 
> That is all.
> 
> ...
> 
> (Set in KHIII-speculation land again.)

"I thought space would be a lot darker."

Behind her, Riku chuckles, but as much as Xion likes ogling at his smirk, she can't quite tear herself away from the Gummi ship window—

—that is, until Sora's manic piloting tosses her backward.

With a shout she throws her arms out, but something latches onto her waist as she falls to the floor.

She lands on something a lot softer, however; Riku groans under her, but his arms never loosen around her.

The sudden lack of space between them is even more intimidating than the depths outside the window.


	32. Company

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> KHIII-speculation land again: the actual prompt is set when Riku and Mickey finally return from the Realm of Darkness with Aqua, after Sora restores Xion, Namine, and Roxas, and the second drabble occurs a few weeks before.
> 
> The early bonus was inspired by a post on tumblr hoping Riku would finally cry in KHIII, to which one of my friends added that they hoped Riku would cry when he remembered Xion at last. I couldn't resist writing it, and I couldn't wait to post it at the end.

"Hey, Xion, wake up."

She opens her eyes to shadows and the faintest sliver of sunlight on the ceiling. "Sora? Isn't it a little early?"

"When's that ever stopped you? Come on, we've got company."

With a sigh that turns into a groan at the burn in her arms, Xion pushes herself out of bed and stumbles across her room in the dark, berating herself for staying up so late training with Kairi. "There had better be a good—"

"Xion?"

His voice stops her where she stands.

He may be two weeks late, but he's found his way back.

"Ri-riku?"

* * *

 

**Early Bonus:**

A quick flash of light in the darkness is all the warning Riku gets before the pain hits with the force of a tidal wave.

_"But I'm just a puppet—"_

"Riku!"

He's dimly aware of his knees giving out and Mickey hovering around him even as he clenches his eyes shut.

_"I understand."_

Of course the one who deserved better, the one he never got to thank—

_"Thank you, Riku."_

Of course Sora saves Xion when he's a dimension away.

"Sora found it," he gasps, and he'll never be sure if he's crying because of the pain or the irony.


	33. Uneasy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In response to me live-blogging about an impromptu Zumba party in the middle of a Relay for Life event, another good friend on tumblr indirectly requested that Riku get stuck in a similar situation. Thus we get this "wonderful" mental image.

"Absolutely not."

Predictably, Xion completely ignores him.

Riku feels the eyes of everyone in the bleachers follow him as Xion drags him by the wrist to the center of the gymnasium, bouncing on her feet as she tries to fall in step with the group—primarily women, to his horror. "Xion, you've seen me in Atlantica. _I can't dance._ "

"You can't have fun, either."

Uneasily he glances around the room, finding only one other man attempting to belly dance to the word "chocolate" blaring repeatedly over the speakers—

—and forgets to breathe when Xion mimics the same moves easily.


	34. Clouds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obligatory "if they had a kid" headcanon! According to Behind the Name, "Haruki" can be made with four different kanji: two for "haru," meaning either "to clear up" or "sun, sunlight," and two for "ki," meaning either "life" or "radiance, shine." I choose the latter kanji in both cases, which means Haruki's name can be roughly compared to "sunshine." Therefore, since "Riku" means "land" and "Xion" goes back to the word for "tide," Haruki fills the third role of the traditional KH trio as the sky when grouped with his parents...

Xion covers her face with her hand as if to block the stench of paint, but Riku's awkward shuffle in the center of the spare room—what _used_ to be the spare room—gives him away.

He knows she's trying not to cry.

"We, uh, thought that, since his name means 'sunshine,' it'd be cool to give him his own sky..." He shrugs, glancing around the baby-blue walls and examining the painted clouds closest to him.

"Riku, it's—it's perfect."

And finally, Riku grins. "I'm glad you like it because between buying the house and fixing this up, we're broke."


	35. Feather

"I'm still trying to understand how you can have feathers on your Keyblade when feathers make you sneeze."

Xion smirks in the darkness, picturing Riku rolling his eyes at her, as Riku's arm wraps around her waist and pulls his body close to hers. "For one," he says, matter-of-fact with a hint of laughter behind it, "they're feathers from an angel wing. I don't think it's physically possible to be allergic to angel wings."

"I don't see how it's impossible—"

"Two, they're not real feathers."

"I'm just saying it's ironic."

Riku groans and buries his face in her hair.


	36. Frenzy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Companion to 32. "Company," set directly afterward.

Xion had thought this moment would be more of a frenzy, a race to reach each other and to say what went unsaid.

Riku looked as if he'd been in a frenzy to climb the stairs of Yen Sid's tower, his shoulders heaving uncharacteristically, and her heart was pounding fiercely, her hands trembling, but they remained immobile at their own ends of the room.

"You're—you're back," she whispers.

"You're awake," Riku says.

"Barely." It slips before she can stop herself, but Riku chokes on his laughter, and the corners of her mouth curl upward.

The first step comes easily.


	37. Stalemate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More KHIII speculation, but not really shippy.

Riku extends a hand toward her when Xion lifts her head, a small smile on his face. From where she lies, she can see the shadows in the lines on his face, most of them new. Taking his hand, she lets him pull her off the training room floor. "Ready to call it a night?"

Her Keyblade reappears in hand.

"Xion—"

"Are you here to train me or not?" she snaps. "If I can't at least stalemate with you, then I'm not strong enough."

Riku falls silent, watches her with narrowed eyes—

—and lifts the Way to Dawn, nodding.


	38. Silent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set way post-canon - or headcanon, for that matter - shortly after Xion dies. Arashi is another original character closely tied to Haruki, but this is literally all I've ever posted about her, lol.

Haruki is gone by the time Riku wakes, probably off with Arashi chasing sunshine to hide the Darkness.

He wishes it were that easy for him to forget the cold sheets he woke up to that had been warm this time a week ago.

He wades through the emptiness of the house, pushing aside memories when he catches glimpses of Xion's smile from pictures on the walls. Light filters in from the windows; beyond them, the sea blurs into the sky, what remains of Xion past the horizon.

And Riku stands in the shadows of his house, silent and broken.


	39. Dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Companion to 16. "Breath."

Xion waits, and she dreams.

The world is black, no floor or ceiling to be seen, but there is solid ground below her, Roxas, and Riku; they charge each other as she watches—

A flash of green and Roxas disappears, a circle of flames surrounding her. "Have you ever considered that you're not good for her?"

Xion glances up from Maleficent's fire—and there he is, outside the fire, his back to her. "Riku…"

"I'm sorry, Xion."

She reaches across the crackling flames—

The fire dissipates when she touches his shoulder; there is pressure on her lips, then light.


	40. Claws

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hurrah, back to the forty days of running in Days!

"You didn't have to do that." His voice is low enough that he is barely audible as his fingers trace the new parallel scars on her shoulder. Xion shivers as he brushes still-tingling skin, hoping he doesn't pay it any mind.

"You would have done it for me," she mumbles to the space between them. He would have pushed her aside and taken the brunt of the Heartless' claws, too, but for different reasons, and she thinks they both know that. "We're partners, aren't we?"

She only wishes that they were friends—that they had the time to be friends.


	41. Companions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of the new speculated KHIII headcanon—Riku is still looking for Aqua in the Realm of Darkness with Mickey when Sora rescues Xion, Roxas, and Naminé, and so the others train while waiting for Riku to get back.

"We were just companions," she says—but just like Lea, like Kairi, Xion looks away from Sora when she lies. "That's all."

"Just companions" don't ask if there's been any sign of their old travel buddies every single day, Sora wants to say; instead, he groans and flops next to Xion on the couch, sprawling over his entire side and making her giggle.

They're quiet for a moment, then Sora finally gets the right words in the right order. "I miss him, too, you know."

His only answer is Xion drawing her legs up and wrapping her arms around them.


	42. Belong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently writing things at two o'clock in the morning leads to extra creepiness. I may yet write another "Belong" prompt that's happier, but damn, I like this one.
> 
> Set in the middle of the new KHIII headcanon in which Sora and company visit Castle Oblivion to find Ven, and just after Ven and the Land of Departure are restored, the New Organization attacks. Riku and Xion have been hinting around each other, and it's Riku who finds Xion cornered and helps fight Young Xehanort off… but not before Xehanort gets what he wanted and Marks Xion as well as two of her friends.

"You belong to us, Xion," the boy in black says as the aura of Darkness around him envelops her. Her back is pressed against the back of an empty throne, and no one is in sight; the boy's golden eyes stay her like pins in a dissected butterfly's wing. "We created you."

Xion can taste his Darkness, sweet and metallic and rich, but she's lulled by the familiarity of it all—silver hair, a smirk, a touch of Darkness. When Xehanort speaks, his voice is soft, as soft as Riku's hand brushing her own.

"Together we can save them."


	43. Sand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New headcanon dictates that realizing Xion and Namine are back at last causes Riku to open a Door to the Light, but since they haven't found Aqua, Mickey and Riku are forced to abandon the only way out of the Realm of Darkness they may see for some time. Riku is understandably bitter.

Lighter and finer than the sand of the islands at home, the sand forming the paths of the Realm of Darkness slips through his hands like ashes, like water as he tries to hold it in his hands as the tide recedes—

_—like memories that should never have been made, memories of a girl in black with a smile that could light up the night if he'd given it the chance—_

Riku slams a fist into the sand, eyes blinded from the memory of the Door to Light that could have taken him back to them—to _her._


	44. Fangs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follows #42 "Belong," but not really _connected._

Xion's eyes glitter as she grins, baring fangs under fools'-gold eyes. Here in his dream, Riku bites his tongue, but he matches Xehanort's illusion's gaze.

"It's been a while, Riku," Xion says, voice warm and smooth—and lower than he's ever heard it. Sidling up to him, she leans into him and runs a hand along his jaw. "You know why I am here?"

"Xion won't do it." He forces himself to breathe, slowly and evenly as Xion's hand slips lower. "She's stronger than you ever knew."

Xion laughs, leaning in to kiss his neck—and sinks her teeth in.


	45. Perish

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the result of an abandoned project I've wanted to do for a while but never get around to. I'd be interested to see how the Riku Replica and Xion would interact; originally I was planning on writing an eleven-part story taking place in KHIII where the Riku Replica is revived by the New Organization and claims allegiance to them, making him the Thirteenth Vessel… This particular drabble occurs in the first part of the whole arc in which Xion learns about the other Replica's existence.

Riku's wanted to punch Vexen before—quite often, actually—but now, with the scientist smirking at him over Xion's shoulder, he thinks punching won't hurt _enough._

Xion frowns when she turns to him, and she doesn't relax when Riku rests his hands on her shoulders. "What does he mean, Riku?"

He tenses. "The other Replica… was of me," he admits, exhaling as Xion gasps. He forces himself on, though; he owes her that much for lying—even by omission. "He perished in Castle Oblivion… I destroyed him."

When Xion flinches away, he can't bring his eyes to leave the floor.


	46. Dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hurrah for rather obvious next-gen OCs? I debated for a long time about following this plot idea, and while it may be conceived as a Mary Sue trait, given who Haruki's father is, not following or speculating on this situation would be kinda obvious.

"I was afraid of this," Riku says without looking up from Terra's letter, and her eyes sting again, even though there are probably no tears left. "I've been afraid of this since before he was born."

She knows he was, but she keeps that to herself and sits on their bed beside him, puts a hand on his arm. "Haruki's your son. He's more than strong enough to control it."

"It's my fault, though, isn't it." He laughs shortly—too broken to cry, like she'd read somewhere. "He wouldn't have to fight this Darkness if it hadn't been for me."


	47. Legacy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Legacy" is a hard prompt for two teenagers who, despite having to work to save the world(s), try to act like teenagers most of the time. I'm just mildly impressed I found a way to incorporate multiple meanings behind "legacy"...
> 
> Even _more_ follow-up to Xehanort trying to get a Thirteenth Vessel. I'm just really curious to see how this goes down...

Xion pulls her arm in his grasp—he pulls back, harder, and his hands lock around her shoulders. "Riku, let go—"

"Don't quit on me now," and his knuckles are white and his own inheritance from Xehanort burns desperately in his Heart, as bright as Xion's still-red scar. "You never gave up on me, I'm not giving up on you."

And Xion stills, eyes wide and bright.

When she collapses against him, he folds around her, the two of them entangled into a shaking mess. "You're going to rise above this," he murmurs. "That's what you'll be remembered for."


	48. Infiltrate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know how Disney Publishing Worldwide actually has the rights to the Percy Jackson series? And heroes in the Percy Jackson series, per Greek mythology, can be reincarnated twice for a total of three lives to attempt to get into the Isles of the Blest? And how Kingdom Hearts already has access to an Underworld via Hercules? Yeeeaaah... Xion didn't stay dead after #38.

"Manami—" Her father grabs at her arm, harder than necessary. "We don't know these men, they could be spies, trying to infiltrate our family because of my position—"

"That man is dying," she snaps. "He just wants to see me—"

"Xion?"

She shouldn't have whipped around that fast.

Haruki doesn't look at Manami as he carries his father into the room, but Riku never tears his eyes away. "Xion, is that you?"

And the world around them falls away, just like before.

Manami— _Xion_ —swallows the lump in her throat and reaches for him. "It's me, Riku."


	49. Hollow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set in the speculative KHIII headcanon, while Riku and Xion are still growing as friends but before they become a thing and before the Sigil drama starts.

"What's up…?"

"Nothing." Riku rolls his head to the side, away from her.

Xion bites back the urge to reply sarcastically and takes a tentative seat on one of the cushions lining the room. "Have you… met Princess Jasmine before?"

"Once."

It's too careful not to be rehearsed, and Riku's voice sounds all the more hollow for it. "You can tell me, Riku. You can trust me."

"…The last time I saw Jasmine, I handed her over to Maleficent."

By the time he glances her way, her arms have wrapped around him like she's done it a thousand times before.


	50. Music

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to keep this drabble more romantic/light-hearted since the last few were written as heavy-hitters. Fun fact: I was searching the internet for musical inspiration and discovered that someone ranked "Love Story" and "Hey There, Delilah" as more romantic than "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls, which is a LIE.

They're not even dancing anymore—they've devolved from formal posture to nothing, just an embrace while whatever music Tron pulled up at Xion's request keeps playing.

"I know this song." Tucked against Riku's chest, Xion can feel the vibrations of his voice accompanying his heartbeat. "They played this at the one, awful dance I went to at school."

"How'd it make it into the Grid?"

Riku shrugs, stroking her hair before resting his hand on her head, pulling her closer. "You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be," he murmurs along to the melody, and Xion smiles to herself.


	51. Lost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set in the new and improved KHIII sure-to-be-dead-wrong headcanon where Riku and Mickey are in the Realm of Darkness when Sora finds this "Keyblade to return people's Hearts" and brings Namine, Xion, and Roxas back. This isn't super shippy, no, but I wanted to stay true to the characters overall, and I'm pretty happy with how that worked out in one hundred words. Happy reading!

"Aren't you worried he'll get lost?"

Xion hadn't realized the room could get any tenser, but it does; a dark look crosses Sora's face, Kairi fists her hands in her skirt, and Namine covers her heart with both hands while Roxas looks away from her.

Axel, though, shrugs, feigning nonchalance even though she knows he's a terrible liar. "He's probably right at home in the Realm of Darkness, if anything. It's not like he's a stranger to the Dark."

But he's not a stranger to Light, either, and Xion tries to ignore the memory of Riku's hand on her shoulder.


	52. Heartbeat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had the general image for this prompt in mind since the beginning of the challenge, but I decided to twist it toward a darker edge after a friend mentioned she'd like to see more of the new-and-improved KHIII headcanon. This is definitely set toward the end of KHIII, after the slew of prompts about Xehanort being a creep and trying to manipulate Xion into being the thirteenth Vessel.

Riku knows Xion can feel it when he touches her; as Xehanort pulls them farther along in his plans, his Darkness grows. Most of the time he lets it loose against the Heartless, but that can't sate him forever.

The roiling frustration under his skin would keep him awake for days if not for her. At night he tangles his fingers in her hair, pressing her head against his chest while Xion taps the rhythm of his heart against his spine. When it lulls his Light to sleep, Riku mimics her and counts her heartbeats until sleep takes him, too.


	53. Gravity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reeeaaally hoping I didn't stretch the "gravity" theme too much here—but if I did, eh, oh well. "Gravity" inspired this drabble, I think that counts. And this is just too damn cute not to go with, okay? Set sometime after KHIII, granted that Xion gets her Keyblade back and both she and Riku survive.

"Master Xion," Riku says again, and his heart aches so badly at her grin.

"This—this is more than I ever dreamed of." When Xion blinks, he can see the light reflecting tears she still won't shed. "I don't believe it—I'm dreaming, right? Pinch me or something, prove it—"

"Of course, Master," he murmurs against her lips; she stills under his hands for an instant as their lips meet before she flies into action again and reciprocates.

She offered to be another Light to his Darkness, of course he'll be her gravity—through the bad _and_ the good.


	54. Beach

"I wish Roxas and Axel were here."

Of course she runs her mouth now, when it's just the two of them.

Riku glances at her, barely turning his head. "Yeah?"

"Yeah, um… Axel promised we'd go to the beach sometime. I've been to the Islands, but we've never gotten to just…"

"Play?" The heavy weight of Riku's hand lands on her shoulder. "You should go sometime, before things get bad."

"Things aren't already bad?"

Xion's shoulder shakes with his laughter—shakes a smile out of her, too. "Point taken. You'll get to go," he says, smirking at her. "I promise."


	55. Surf

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nothing like getting a perfect mental image at three in the morning and trying (and pretty well failing at getting it exactly) to put it in one hundred words by four. Sitting on it for a week and switching narrators helped a lot, though, and thus I am satisfied.

They luck into a big wave just after she gets the feel for standing on the surfboard with Riku.

The water almost completely encloses them in an infinite stretch of ocean and sky, and Xion trembles as she straightens her arm to brush her fingers along the wall of water. She looks back at the man steadying her by the waist for an instant, breathless with wonder—

—except that there's still breath in her lungs that Riku steals away with nothing more than the adoration in his eyes.

When they reach land, she'll have to steal it back.


	56. Confused

Riku doesn't even twitch when she perches on his bed, but the _instant_ she tries to slip under the covers with him, his eyes snap open. "Good morning, Sleepy," she whispers.

In lieu of responding, he blinks a few times, squinting at her with such a dazed look that she almost giggles. "…I fell asleep," Riku says at last.

The laughter bubbles out before she can stop herself, even harder when Riku glares at her with his narrowed, sleepy eyes. "I'm sorry," she gasps, "you're just so _cute_ when you're confused."

Riku rolls over and takes the blankets with him.


	57. Fire

It's just like old times—side by side, surrounded by Dusks—but now there's no Dark Corridors to run to.

Xion blinks, and Riku's already leapt into action. Whipping around, she tastes electricity on her lips and starts to call up Thunder—

—but a Dusk is already circling her ankles, swiping at her knees, she's tripping—

A heavy _something_ wraps around her waist and _pulls._

Her head collides with Riku's chest as fire bursts from his other hand, purple-tinged flames blasting the Nobody in its chest.

And the fire may have been Dark, but nobody could make Xion feel safer.


	58. Lightning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do this scenario a lot. Oops. I already used the Lightning Farron card in a previous work, so I was stuck with legit lightning. Sort of.

Of course he finds the one place Xion hadn't healed when he tries to be gentle.

She flinches, and Riku throws his hands up, away from her waist. "I'm sorry, hold on—"

"Not your fault." While he digs through a million pockets, Xion hesitantly lifts the side of her shirt, and he catches sight of raw skin before she can hide it. "Blame Larxene."

"Doesn't mean I'm not sorry. Here—"

"Hey." She reaches out but grabs his wrist instead of the bottle. "We're okay."

"I know." He forces himself to breathe. "I know. Just… take care of yourself."


	59. Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set somewhere around the middle of KHIII, I’d imagine, sometime after Sora rescues Xion and the others and Riku returns with Aqua.

“Sora told me time isn’t on our side.”

Riku chuckles darkly. “You could say that.”

The knot in her stomach twists tighter, but Xion forces herself to take a deep breath. “Well, this isn’t the first time we’ve had to beat the clock. We’ll find a way.”

He glances back at her, and she can’t quite name his expression—confusion, pity, guilt, surprise? They blend together too easily with Riku.

But then he smiles. “That’s right—the two of us have pulled it off before, haven’t we?”

The knot flips over, but for entirely different reasons, and she smiles back.


	60. Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have I done this yet? I looked through my summaries, and I don’t think I’ve done this, but I’ve thought about this a lot, and now I’m confused, lol. It’s Days!friendship, though! I haven’t read the full translation of the Days novel, but from what I remember, Riku and Xion actually set it up for Xion to go back to the Organization because she misses Roxas and Axel too much.

“You need to go home.”

“Wh-what?” Xion straightens up, hands clenching the bed for support. “But I haven’t—”

“Not back to Sora.” Against the Hollow Bastion sunset, he can’t quite see her expression, but Riku hears her soft “oh.” “I know you haven’t decided, but running isn’t helping you, either.”

“That castle isn’t home—I’m no safer there than we are here—”

“But your friends are there.” He bites back the bitterness—it’s still not hers to bear. “I trust you, Xion. You’ll make the right choice.”

He leaves before she can elicit any more emotions from him.


	61. Force

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am I the only one who’s mad that the scene Xion mentions below didn’t make it into the Days recap movie in I.5? Like, this is _the moment_ when Xion understands that the Organization doesn’t care about the lesser members and their Hearts/emotions, and this is when she decides that Xemnas can’t have Kingdom Hearts. It’s just so important and so subtle and I love it and aaaagggggghhhhhh…

“They forced my hand,” she whispers, but the words don’t catch in her throat like they do for Kairi or Sora. “They used magic—Roxas looked like a Heartless. I was going to…”

At the foot of his own bed, Riku lays a hand on her wrist and squeezes, and it’s not the familiar weight on her shoulder, but it means the same. “But you didn’t.”

“But I didn’t.”

Neither of them know everything about the other, and she doubts they ever really will. The past comes forth in bits and pieces—in their own time.


	62. Sunlight

"Gosh, I didn't know anything about her."

The stalagmite they're resting against is weirdly rough, like the coral reef at the Islands. It's a welcome relief from the stabbing migraine remembering brings, though, so Riku endures.

"You know Sora and Kairi—she was a lot like them."

The differences make the pain worse; out of habit he closes his eyes, but that can't block Light that's not outside his own head. "She always tried to be like sunlight, no matter how bad things got."

It doesn't occur to Riku until later that His Majesty had likely only meant her existence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Multiple things:
> 
> 1\. I wrote a thing I actually liked.
> 
> 2\. I'm sorry for the wait.
> 
> 3\. Hypothetically set in KHIII while Riku and Mickey are off wandering about in the Realm of Darkness trying to find Aqua. Follows the bonus in #32 and #43.
> 
> 4\. Is this too sappy? Probably. Do I care? Nahhh.
> 
> 5\. As rusty as I am, reviews and crit would be appreciated, now more than ever.
> 
> 6\. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed.


	63. Breathe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Xion needs to relax, if just for a moment.

"So, uh, that was a pretty impressive Strike Raid."

Predictably, Xion doesn't turn around or even acknowledge him. Riku heaves a sigh and tentatively rests his hands on her shoulders; she tenses, but when he doesn't pull away, she melts into him.

(If this wasn't the absolute worst moment, he'd spin her around and kiss her until he could make her feel what little things like that did to him.)

"You don't owe Vexen anything," he says, and he settles for drawing her close and wrapping his arms around her. "Just breathe, okay? Don't let him get to you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More speculative KHIII fic—among the million and a half things I need in future KH games, Even/Vexen and Xion meeting again is near the top. At least in this version of events, it doesn't go well. This kinda makes a nice companion to #49 "Hollow," if you're curious. At any rate, enjoy!


	64. Defend

“You mean to tell me Even actually let a book leave his lab?” Xion nods absently, glaring at minuscule text. Riku raises an eyebrow. “Wow. How’d you get him to let you borrow it?”

“Who says I asked?”

…Wait, _what_? “You stole it?!”

There’s a smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth; past his disbelief, Riku wants to taste it. _Desperately_. “In my defense, he owes me.”

“I can’t believe it. My girlfriend is a petty thief.”

And sure, Xion kicks him under the table, but she’s laughing when she closes the tome and leans over to kiss him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the last one was about Xion and Vexen/Even “disagreeing,” but one, it’s so much fun to imagine them sniping back and forth at each other, and two, it’s been a year since I posted that, this totally doesn’t count as back-to-back.
> 
> I’m very sorry it’s been so long, but I really do miss writing, I’m hoping this gets me started again.


End file.
